It can accept any type 1 compact flash card, any size made, and I think they are available to maybe 1 GB in size. A 512 card would hold quite a few JPEG's, even in the highest resolution. My 5 MP Powershot G5 can hold almost 200 high quality JPEG's on that sized card, so the A80 will be able to record even more than that.

Thanks for that! Do you think it's worth getting a camera without a raw mode? I am hoping to really get into photography so it's just a stepping stone but I'll want it to do me for at least a couple of years...

Just wondering if I can put a 512MB or 1GB Compactflash in a Canon a80? (Haven't got the camera yet - just researching)...

Neil

I am using a transcend 512M CF inherited from my sanyo MZ2. I could give some comments:

1. high speed is not necessary, as A80 do not have any memory space and speed hungry feature and can work well with normal speed kingston CF.

2. 512M or above is not necessary, as I always shoot wildly using Large Superfine mode but still find it quite hard to finish the CF a round. Even for movie mode the file size won't be too big as it is only of 320x240 resolution.

I would suggest getting a 256M CF for A80 casual shooting because I see no difference in photo quality between Large-Superfine and Large-Fine modes.

If what you want right now is a digicam like the A80 to learn withI would avoid shooting in RAW mode. Canon's RAW file manager is REALLY bad and S L O W- it would leave a bad taste in your mouth for working in RAW mode. It takes forever to work RAW files vs. JPEG with Canon's badsoftware which is dissapointing considering how good their cameras are. In order to shoot RAW you really need a digital SLR so you can take advantage of the great third party RAW software like Capture One from Phase One. The problem is these great programs only offer compatibility right now with digital SLR cameras. The highest JPEG level will give great results. The A80 is a great looking little camera. I havesuggested to my parents that would be a nice digital camera for them.

I think the A80 will be a good camera to get your foot in the door. Enough manual control and it'll let you put add-on lenses on. I wouldn't worry about RAW yet - since you say its only a stepping stone, you don't need it to do everything yet. Actually, not having RAW will force you to nail the exposure &amp; white balance every time and develop good habits. Raw mode, besides having better quality, makes it a lot easier to fix mistakes and be lazy about some stuff.

Bottom line - get the A80, a 512 MB card (unless you think you're going to shoot mote that 200 pics at a time)(don't bother with high speed) and start shooting and having fun. When you save up enough money to get a dSLR a few years down the road, the A80 will make a great back-up or travel camera. Have fun!